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Firestarters

“If you’re the first to do something, you’re allowed to fail. If you just come along with the mainstream you can’t fail.”

Here’s the next installment of the Public Libraries 2020 articles I wrote for the Reading and Writing Foundation and it’s a pretty mind blowing one.

Aarhus libraries and their director Rolf Hapel are rightly well known in the library community. They are hosting the Next Library conference this September in their impressive new waterfront library building. But, as this article shows, they’ve been showing us how it’s done (and thinking about how to do it in future) for many years…

All quotations are from Rolf Hapel. All images supplied by Aarhus libraries unless otherwise credited.

Context

Aarhus is the second largest city in Denmark. The economy of the city, along with the rest of Denmark, has been transforming from an industrial base to a knowledge-based economy. There has been a particular move towards urbanisation of the population, with rural areas moving from a primarily small scale agricultural economy to a large scale farming and leisure-based economy.

Another challenge for the country is the ageing population in Denmark, although the city of Aarhus remains quite young because a number of educational institutions are based there. The economy is currently relatively stable and although the financial crisis had an impact in 2008 there are signs of growth.

As many other European nations Denmark has a problem with illiteracy – around 15-20% of the population have a reading age of 8 years (2nd year of primary school). In addition, the population needs to develop its computer and media literacy as many social services are moving to an online-only presence which relies on citizens to ‘self serve’ using web based services. Although there is a high penetration of fast broadband and mobile web-enabled devices such as smart phones and tablets, around 30% of the population are not able or confident to use public services online and also do not understand why they should do so.

Libraries are included in the government digital strategy as places to get help in using public services and increasingly they are the only physical presence of government services on the high street as housing and benefits offices are closing their doors.

“Increasingly, physical libraries are about physical people. Where we used to be book oriented we are now human oriented”

There are 18 libraries in Aarhus, and the new central library DOKK1 opened in June 2015.

The process of change

“The process of change has been longer than you might imagine. We have been talking about the paperless office since the 1980s. We had the first e-readers in the late 1990s. Libraries in Denmark have been at the cutting edge of finding new ways of distributing knowledge.”

Because of this, Danish policy makers see libraries as a tool to educate the Danish population, particularly about how to engage with digital public services. Libraries are neutral spaces that are free to enter and don’t require you to have a specific religious or political affiliation.

The new library building

(Image courtesy of Freek Zonderland)

The local public were involved in designing the building and workshops were held with school children to get them to provide a brief to the architects about how they wanted the building to be designed.

“We thought that today’s children are tomorrow’s adult library users, and we want this building to work for them throughout their lives, so why not involve them in the planning of the building? The architects were sceptical at first but when they saw their ideas – particularly in relation to soundscapes, they were really inspired.”

In Aarhus the municipal government had a decentralisation scheme implemented in the late 1990’s. Institutions were given budgets and allowed to spend them as they saw fit within certain boundaries. This liberated the library and allowed it to become more innovative in its approach. The library invested more in technology and less in staff posts that were no longer needed – it became leaner and more efficient. Plans and ideas were also easier to realise.

The library began an innovation policy which saw staff members being invited to propose new services every year. These proposals are assessed and the best ones are invited to pitch their idea in person to the library management team. If they are successful the staff member is allowed a certain number of days to work on the project where they are relieved of their other duties. They are also promised a certain amount of matched funding from the library service if they are able to source funding from other partners, and they are given support to do so. In this way the library has managed to raise at least €1 million annually from external funding to develop services in connection with partners.

One example of a project that began in this way is the “Digital ABC” curriculum which the library staff developed together with local secondary school teachers. The aim of the curriculum is to teach young people how to access important digital public services. Having started in Aarhus it is now being taught across Denmark.

New delivery models

“We are working out how to run the libraries with a minimum of effort, through co-creating services with our communities”

There were 2,044,089 physical visits in the 18 libraries in Aarhus in 2014. Of those were 409,133 visits took place in the periods where there are no staff (the so called “open library”).

“One way of thinking about it is to call it the ‘mashup’ library. We provide a space and then import services that have been developed and delivered by others into that space. Just like you might mash up a weather report or traffic information into your website”

One example of where this has worked particularly well is in areas with high immigrant populations where the library has partnered with health services so that midwives can offer information to pregnant women. Midwives then continue to work with children’s librarians to help young families run events and family reading groups so that they get the support and information they might not otherwise find.

“Libraries are mediators, the content they mediate can change. I’m not worried that this approach will dilute the library brand – we know what we are.”

Leveraging friends groups

“A lot of friends groups were started in Denmark in the early 2000’s when libraries were under threat. Although they can often be seen as a conservative force, in Denmark they are actually very progressive and they support libraries to try new things.”

Friends groups have been instrumental in funding expensive author visits to libraries and approaching authors to ask them to come to the library and speak to library users.

Innovation as a service

Aarhus libraries are working with Chicago Public Libraries and IDEO (an innovation business) to develop a toolkit for libraries to undertake rapid innovation and teach staff to think in terms of design. Specifically, they are looking at bringing in service users to co-create services.

Approaches to learning in libraries have changed over the past 20 years:

“It’s not just about the physical entity of the book providing learning opportunities. It’s about human development, social cohesion, knowledge and idea spreading”

Lifelong learning in libraries is not just about the library’s collection of books, although that is still important. Libraries have always been about mediated learning and now they are also mediating the knowledge and learning that is held in the community. There is a change of focus from the book collection to the humans that engage with the library.

“Books are not the only source of knowledge transfer we have in the library – we also have knowledge in our communities and libraries can be places where ideas are spread.”

Lifelong learning activities and services in libraries are co-developed with library users. In 2014 Aarhus Public Libraries had 1651 events. One example is the knitting club in Aarhus started because some women used to meet at the library to knit. The library staff asked them if they would be happy to include others in their knitting group and then proposed speakers and experts to come and talk to them about knitting. Club members were given advice and information about resources the library holds on knitting and asked to make their own book recommendations and the service grew from there.

“When people come through the door of the library we don’t see them as clients, we see them as resources. They all know something and can do something”

Partnership is also a key element of delivering lifelong learning support. For example, homework help cafes are delivered by the Danish Red Cross Youth Division four times a week in three libraries across Aarhus.

Reading groups are another strong trend in Denmark that are being supported by the library service. The library service has set up a website www.litteratursiden.dk which puts Danish readers in touch with each other, helping them to find out about reading groups taking place in libraries and other places nearby. It also connects readers with authors: the site lists all contemporary Danish authors and their works and allows readers to contact authors with questions and comments. The site also facilitates contacts between reading groups and libraries, so that they can borrow books from the library and use other library services. Although it is a user-driven service, the service is facilitated by the library service. This service also demonstrates the interconnections between the digital and physical world and new ways in which they are influencing each other. In 2014 the site had 3,313,091 unique visits with 11851 people have established profiles on the site. But the impact is also felt in Aarhus libraries- there are 211 readers clubs registered in Aarhus libraries, with between 8 and 15 members in each. Registering with the library means that each club has a borrowers card that allows for special lending rights, such as several issues of the same title, and support in acquiring books from other libraries if needed.

Theories of the library

In my interview with him, Rolf Hapel described a “four room model” for what a library is that I thought it would be useful to share – although not all of these will be contained within the physical building, or be discrete from each other in practice:

The inspiration space

A space for serendipitous learning – where you can find out about things you didn’t even think you were interested in

Learning room

A place where you can access structured knowledge – either through book, e-resources or classes, peer-to-peer learning without having to be a member of an educational institution

Meeting space

A space for democratic dialogue, where you can hold workshops, exchange views and ideas and where the community can ‘borrow’ physical space to do activities that are free to access and fit with the library’s public purpose

Performative space

These are maker spaces, hack spaces and other ways of expressing yourself – poetry slam workshops and other creative activities that can take place in the library

I spoke to Maria Stella Rasetti, the Director of Pistoia’s San Giorgio Library in Italy as part of the work I did for the Reading and Writing Foundation‘s Libraries Change Lives publication. We didn’t have space for the full case study in the publication but it was so inspirational to me, I’ve produced it in full here (with their permission).

Context

Pistoia is a small city with around 90,000 inhabitants located in the central part of Tuscany. Although it is close to several major urban centres, such as Florence, Prato and Pisa, it is surrounded by mountains and has always been rather isolated and less well-known than its neighbours.

The town includes primary, middle and high schools. It also has a University that is linked with Florence University. Alongside traditional academic subjects, the university supports technical specialisms, such as engineering. The local industry is dominated by commercial arboriculture and engineering.

The financial crisis in 2008 had a significant local impact, particularly on small businesses in the area, many of which closed down. But The local population is close knit and has a strong tradition of social solidarity. There has been some recent migration from within the European Union and Africa and these communities have been relatively easily absorbed into the local population.

Although the educational level is relatively high in the area, there is a specific skills gap among adults in relation to modern technology and computer use. Being able to effectively participate in the knowledge economy and conduct ecommerce and engagement is as an important factor for the redevelopment of small and medium size enterprise.

Developing the new library

Since the 1600s Pistoia has had an impressive library housed in the historical centre of the town. The building is a beautiful example of Renaissance architecture. It also houses an important collection of historical manuscripts and books. However, the library was never well used by the local population. It had a circulation of around 23,000 loans per year and was mainly used by students and visiting scholars.

In 2000 a decision was made by the local Commune to build a new public library in the old industrial area of Pistoia. The new library was conceived as the centrepiece of a plan to kick-start redevelopment in the area, which had become derelict as local businesses moved to out-of-town locations. The site of the original Breda factory was chosen for the library, as a symbol of the renewal of the town and to signal the town’s optimistic ambitions for its future growth. The new library is known as “The Knowledge Factory”, in a nod to its industrial roots and is housed in a converted warehouse of around 1,700 square feet.

“We wanted to create a library that was for everyone. Where anyone could come and feel at home, but also see something interesting and engage with all kinds of cultural activities.”

The library was conceived as an indoor ‘piazza’ or public forum. It has a large glass-fronted atrium with a tree growing in the centre. The tree alludes to the main local industry of arboriculture, the traditional material of books, the idea of growth, hope and development, the tree of knowledge and is a central focus where people congregate and share shelter, conversation and ideas.

There is a large exhibition area and an auditorium with 100 seats which is used as a public meeting and performance space and there are several smaller reading activity and meeting rooms branching off it at ground and first floor level. There is a privately run café bar and two cinema halls integrated into the library building, as well as a computer media suite and maker space.

The construction of the library was funded entirely from local taxes and cost E10 million. It costs E1.5 million per year to run the library, including staff costs and overheads. These core running costs are funded by local taxpayers, but there is no additional public funding for activities, courses or cultural additions to the core library offer. These all have to be provided on a goodwill basis in collaboration with the local community.

Soon after the library opened, in 2007, the financial crisis hit Pistoia, along with the rest of Italy. Maria Stella Rasetti took over the running of the library in 2008, just as the financial crisis began. The planned redevelopment of the rest of the industrial quarter in the town was in danger as building work on other public and private projects temporarily ground to a halt.

“We had money for the staff and to keep the lights on, but little more. And we’d just built a big library in a small city, which already had a library. We were under pressure to demonstrate the difference we could make to the town, to be the beacon of hope for the future. But we had no publicity budget, let alone money to stage cultural or arts activities.”

Her solution was to rely on a network of partnerships with local schools, the university, local businesses, volunteering organisations and the Civil Service (a volunteering option for those who do not wish to undertake military service), as well as encouraging her library staff to plan and run their own events. The library now runs around 800 individual free events each year (nearly 3 per day), including courses, workshops, talks, exhibitions, cinema screenings, performances, public meetings and information events about local services and initiatives.

“We changed the way people in our town spend their free time. Where before they stayed at home or went into Florence on their days off, now they come here. They can do whatever they like – see an art exhibition, go on a course, read a book, hang out by themselves or catch up with friends. It’s the place of choice for the local community, and we have around 1,500 individual visits per day.”

The library averages 2 loans per head of local population per annum (in contrast with the national average of 0.5). And its open, collaborative approach hasn’t just changed the way the library is used, it has changed attitudes to the library among library staff and library users. Library staff, who used to act as protectors and conservators of the books, engage with users in new ways – for example putting reading recommendations inside cosmetics boxes, yoghurt pots branded “Healthy Mind” and boxes of vegetables for those on New Year health kicks.

“We don’t see ourselves as knowing more than anyone else, we’re there to welcome people and go on the journey with them”

And in return, the public value and feel involved in their new library:

“We haven’t had any vandalism, because people feel as though it’s their space. We started off creating a library for the people, but now it’s a library of the people”

The library has also fulfilled the original aim of regenerating a dilapidated area of Pistoia. There is now a school, University campus, healthcare centre, hotel and private apartment blocks where before there were only run-down warehouses and factories. The Commune is currently building a garden walkway to link the industrial zone with the historical town centre.

Digital inclusion

The free public events, courses and workshops at the library are designed around the principle of lifelong learning. The idea that learning does not stop when you leave school and that the library is the best place to deliver it is central to Maria Stella’s understanding of her mission:

“The library is the main social elevator we have at our disposal these days. It’s the best way to provide opportunities to all – schools can’t even out all social differences. Libraries offer free access to the most extraordinary opportunities which can help people to develop their working lives, their relationships and their interests. Libraries provide the opportunities but people can choose how they use them, they can create their own personal geographies using the tools offered by the library.”

Digital inclusion is a key element of the lifelong learning package offered by the library. People of all ages can take courses in anything from basic word processing, to how to safely use social media, to computer coding and 3D design.

“We stop people being ‘prisoners of technology’ and show them how they can be in control of it and use it in ways they never imagined. People come here all the time with a smart phone or a tablet – maybe they got it as a present or bought it, but they have no idea how to use it and in fact they are quite scared of it. But by the end they are crazy about the new technology, because they see what it can do for them – like being able to design and make something you need for your home using a 3D printer in the library, or take 100 books on holiday in just one Ereader.”

Many of the tutors are local young people and enthusiasts, keen to share their interest with others. Experts from the schools and universities also give up their time to host courses in everything from 3D printing to robotics.

“Some of our local robotics students are taking a robot they have made to an international Lego League in the USA”.

There are QR codes around the library building to signpost the resources available in different areas. A geo-tagged book trail leads readers through Pistoia’s historical town centre, allowing them to discover literature relating to their local monuments on their smart phones and share what they are reading with others in the community.

“We are taking digital activities out of the library and giving people a reason to engage with digital technology and the library, as they go about their daily lives.”

But it’s not all just new and cutting edge technologies. The older generations are bringing their own skills to hi-tech creativity and fabrication:

“We have a long tradition of domestic arts and handicrafts in Pistoia. People who are skilled in these traditional crafts are bringing their knowledge and translating it into new technologies – creating modern artefacts that blend old and new skills. This week we’re hosting a jewellery 3D printing workshop, for example.”

Maria Stella believes that by ensuring everyone has access to a broad range of new technologies, regardless of their ability to pay, the library is supporting the local population to benefit from the opportunities offered by the knowledge economy. But her vision is broader than just the economic benefits offered by digital inclusion:

“We used to bond together because of our shared roots, but now we can’t do that anymore – we’re all from different places. So the only thing we have in common is our shared experience of the present and our vision for the future. The library is the gateway to that shared future.”

When asked about whether digital activities are a core element of library work, or whether they are just a passing ‘fashion’, she is thoughtful:

“We should take all criticisms on board, because they help us to think about what we are doing. But libraries have always changed and absorbed new media and platforms for creativity. I don’t think digital activities are any different – and they must always be incorporated into the library’s core work. For us that is lifelong learning. If the maker space or media suite isn’t integrated into the library then of course, it won’t work. But here, it’s a logical part of what we do.”

Maria Stella’s thoughts on libraries in the 21st Century

For Maria Stella, the library has a fundamental role to play in 21st Century Europe.

“It is one of the most important agents we can use to form our contemporary citizens”

For her, libraries need to invest more in lifelong learning, rather than focussing only on activities for children and families. But there is no one model that is right for every community. Libraries need to look at the needs of their local populations and design their services to meet those needs, always aware that they are constantly changing and evolving.

“The library is a growing organism.We need to be ready to change, to make mistakes, to try something else. There are many different ways of being a library in the 21st Century.”

And she firmly believes that in the current economic climate, and given the new diversity of creative media, no library will succeed in its aims on its own. But the necessity of creating partnerships can become a virtue, and one that spreads beyond the library into the social fabric of the local community.

“We have all become poorer since 2008. We need to create networks and share what we have with people or we won’t survive. But this way of doing things can create a virtuous circle. It’s a model that can multiply outwards.”

Her final word is for librarians and library staff. They have not only to embrace new ways of working, but also need to recognise the importance of what they are doing.

“I always say that being a librarian is the most amazing job. I walk around in my home town feeling like I am making a difference to people’s lives and that my job matters. I call it ‘library pride’.”

A couple of weeks ago I was at a fancy lunch event in Brussels – with an actual princess – (that’s how they do things there).

No, it wasn’t some corporate jolly, it was an event to publicise the role of the 65,000 public libraries in the lives of the 503 million inhabitants of the European Union.

Funded by the Gates Foundation and designed and delivered by the Reading and Writing Foundation, a Dutch thinktank for literacy development in Europe, it was a bit of a masterclass in lobbying for the relatively uninitiated (me).

I must admit that the majority of public library natives there were a bit bemused – this isn’t our natural habitat – we’re much more comfortable in community halls with cups of tea and biscuits.

But this event wasn’t aimed at us – it was aimed at some of the 751 MEPs who debate European Legislation and who could have influence over the perceived status, importance and role of public libraries in their countries of origin, and, of course, at European level.

I don’t know about other countries in Europe but in the UK this kind of lobbying just isn’t usually done. We don’t see the relevance of EU parliamentarians in our daily life, funding or strategic priorities. And we don’t often look to our closest neighbours (with the noble exception of the Scandinavians) for examples of innovative and inventive library service delivery – we’re far more likely to look to the anglophone countries overseas. Perhaps this is natural, but we might just be missing a trick.

(The book I helped write)

I must declare an interest here, I was involved in drafting some of the think piece articles in the publication presented to MEPs at the event, but I learnt a lot through this process:

If you can convince an MEP that public libraries are relevant to their brief and worth talking about, then you can probably convince anyone

You can be ambitious and shout about the difference your library can make to important political priorities, even if it’s not the shiniest, best funded library around

The room lit up when ordinary library users, who were invited to the lunch, shared their stories of how libraries had changed their lives – from the migrant who learnt German at the library and was volunteering to help others, to the unemployed man who joined the job club and is now in full time employment

There are models for community libraries out there in some of the least well off European countries that show just how much can be done with community involvement and good will (more on this in later posts)

Building an amazing library is just the beginning of delivering excellent service – listening to Francine Houben describe her inspiration for the Library of Birmingham was breath-taking – but the way that vision has been demolished by funding cuts following its opening, equally so

(Francine Houben on the inspiration for the Library of Birmingham)

I also heard critiques of this event – that we were talking to the self-selected more ‘friendly’ MEPs and that this kind of lobbying feels too far removed from everyday service delivery.

These may be justified, but what the Reading and Writing Foundation have created is a bank of video case studies and testimonials on Youtube and a digital publication with many of the video protagonists’ stories. These publications focus on key messages and policy areas, which anyone can use or take as a template for their own lobbying activities.

The Reading and Writing Foundation want to start a Europe-wide debate about the value and contribution of public libraries, and that sounds like something worth doing to me.

If I’ve been quiet recently it’s because I’ve been trying to practise what I preach – and that means we’ve all been working harder than we ever thought possible.

I’ve been working with Carillion in their four library services in London (Croydon, Ealing, Hounslow and Harrow) to develop Creative Work Spaces. These are locally designed creative spaces exploring new ways of learning, playing and working in tandem with traditional libraries.

The fruits of our collective labour finally fell from the tree yesterday evening as we watched our Creative Work Space logo being printed out from two 3D printers generously loaned to Northolt library in Ealing by Ultimaker.

The 3D printers are the nucleus of our community managed and run maker space in that library, which is the start of an inspired project conceived by Fiona Tarn, who works for Carillion’s not-for-profit subsidiary, Cultural Community Solutions. Fiona and her team (shout out to Kieran, Maria and Amy!) have been tirelessly working to get this, and other innovative projects off the ground.

The project has also received support from Locality and the Arts Council to develop its ideas and find out about other inspirational libraries. We have learnt from other exciting maker spaces such as Create Space London in Stonebridge Park and South London Makerspace and become part of a community we didn’t even know existed before via Open Workshops London.

Over the next few weeks Northolt library will acquire new tools and equipment which has been specified by the community group that will be running and managing the maker space. To find out more about the maker space in Northolt and get involved, check out the Meetup page or ask to join the Google group.

But Creative Work Spaces is about more than just putting maker spaces in libraries. It’s about coding clubs, coworking spaces, community engagement and inspiring talks and collaborations with people who are pushing the boundaries of creativity, technology, science and knowledge.

The 3D printer workshop was the first of what we hope will be many thought provoking and interactive engagements between library users, makers and innovators in library spaces across London. If you would like to run a talk or workshop or come along to one, just get in touch via this blog, or twitter @katiepekacar or @hounslowculture. We’d love to hear about your idea.

And how did that logo turn out? Well it’s a work in progress but we’re pretty happy with our first effort…

Libraries as open, airy public spaces, flowing seamlessly into green outdoor public amenities. Placing the individual at their centre and designed to provide whatever the public wants in terms of learning and cultural opportunities.

Places where you can go just to feel the cool air conditioning or even sleep without being disturbed, but where members of staff will proactively engage you with the resources available when they can.

Open and engaging architecture with site-specific artworks and access to cutting edge technology in the poorest, most disadvantaged city neighbourhoods. It sounds like a futuristic utopian dream of the public library service… and it sort of is.

The Colombian city of Medellin has started a wave of public library development across South America.

The idea is simple: to create attractive, world class internal and external public spaces that seamlessly join together. To offer people opportunities to experience culture and learning in some of the poorest urban areas on the continent.

“The park libraries are cultural centers for social development that encourage citizen encounters, educational and recreational activities, building groups, the approach to the new challenges in digital culture. And they are also spaces for cultural services that allow cultural creation and strengthening of existing neighborhood organizations.” (source: Wikipedia)

When I read that, it really sounds like something we all need… but what is even more remarkable is the context in which this work is taking place. Other countries across the continent, including Brazil, have taken up the challenge of creating world class public libraries and public spaces in deprived areas with the kinds of challenges that would turn our blood cold in the UK.

Only 26% of the Brazilian population is fully literate. The infrastructural issues in addressing this level of need in a population of over 200 million spread over the fifth largest country in the world are huge. However, the work is already beginning in the favelas of Rio and São Paulo with the opening of new Park LIbraries.

Brazil doesn’t have a strong reading culture. Vera Saboya, Director of the new Rio State Public Library, expressed the challenge:

“Recently, when the Government of the State of Rio de Janeiro opened some Park Libraries over the city and the investments on these spaces were announced, people were often heard complaining that no one would be interested in books, that these spaces would stay empty… To the surprise of all, the spaces were immediately embraced by the communities, with a huge number of borrowed books, lots of research into the collection and many children and young people hanging around, with nothing to do, but to enjoy the peaceful and neutral environment. A new space was being launched, an almost revolutionary experience”

(Image: Biblioteca Parque Estadual Rio de Janeiro)

As she says “people are hungry for moments of non-productive leisure, of creative idleness”.

I absolutely love this characterisation of the public library purpose – especially in a country where even finding volunteers to support professional public library staff is a huge challenge due to economic necessities which mean that ‘leisure time’ is a rare luxury for most.

(A children’s story-telling session in the Biblioteca São Paulo)

In São Paulo, the Biblioteca São Paulo and the newly landscaped ‘Park of Youth’ have been constructed on the site of the infamous Carandiru Penitentiary where, in 1992, 111 prisoners died in a massacre by military police. Adriana Cybele Ferrari, Director of the new library described the challenge for this new library as:

“To build a library that could symbolize a new era for our State System of Public Libraries… To do something that could change the “face” of the libraries and how they are seen and noticed by the community. And also, to break the stigma that Brazilians do not get interested in reading and culture.”

It goes without saying that the library hopes to promote reading and writing – however, and I think this is the key point, Park Libraries aren’t designed around the books and information resources, they’re designed around people, as Ms Ferrari puts it:

“I believe that… the [Park] libraries have been trying to create a space for integration of people, not books. The best place is destined for each user to find out more about himself within this universe, which is primarily focused on reading and writing skills… but also tries to integrate the different kinds of reading around the world, either through image, movement, music or dance.”

(Members of the public enjoying a free theatrical performance at Biblioteca São Paulo)

The park library is designed to meet people’s desire to engage with culture through multiple channels. It has a recording studio, cinema, free wifi access and facilitated activities and performances as well as up to date IT (the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has invested in the IT infrastructure in the Park Libraries in Colombia).

Biblioteca São Paulo is attempting to address the barrier of low literacy levels in the population by using digital technologies to convert any book that a member of the public brings to the library into an audio-book in one working day.

In the Biblioteca Parque Estadual in Rio de Janeiro there are books flying through the air above people’s heads; giant books standing on their ends that are playthings and imaginary houses; books hanging from a magical book tree in the children’s section and toys alongside books in the section for very young children. The whole space feels irreverent and playful. They have gone to great lengths to demystify the public library space, making it open and accessible to as many people as possible.

I love the creative energy in these spaces, the recognition of the need for a civic space just to dream, to be a non-productive citizen, to simply be – but also to be open to new experiences, new ideas and new ways of being.

People love these spaces too, they flock to them and the case is being made for more and more to be built.

I love the combination of external and internal civic spaces and the format agnosticism of these cultural experiences.

I also love the no-holds-barred creative optimism – linked with a realistic understanding of what people want and need, rather than what they ought to have.

South America’s park libraries – magical realism at it’s very best.

(Cover image: Biblioteca São Paulo)

Thanks:

I would like to thank Felipe Arruda of the British Council in Brazil for his help in putting me in touch with the Directors of Biblioteca São Paulo and Biblioteca Estadual Parque Rio de Janeiro and for translating their responses to my questions.

The British Council is working with partners such as the National Literacy Trust and the Reading Agency in Britain to develop joint projects to promote literacy and a reading culture in Brazil.

Or alternatively, when the service has been cancelled because it’s not cost-effective.

The traditional image (reality?) of the mobile library in England is a slightly tatty bus with a limited stock selection and possibly a single computer with wifi connection. It’s often a bit of a millstone around the local authority’s neck – an expensive service that is hard to maintain and used by relatively few people… but if withdrawn it leaves some rural areas feeling they are without a physical library service at all.

You may call me Pollyanna, but I don’t see it that way. To me the mobile library has incredible potential to be an engaging, exciting and unique cultural experience for the public it serves.

I see a buzz of excitement as the brightly coloured, eccentrically shaped customised vehicles roll into small towns, villages and deprived suburbs. I see vivid mobile sculptures unfolding from roofs and pop-up tents bursting out of doors. I see storytellers and performers setting up intimate shows and workshops for rural communities.

I see community book sharing and imaginatively curated book collections – in the evening I see book clubs and writing clubs taking over the space and writing recommendation cards for other readers to find in the books they have read (or written). I see outdoor cinemas and intimate film screenings of BFI collections by virtual film clubs networked across the local authority, just like the Finnish mobile library showcased in this year’s IFLA conference:

“Välkky is a unique Mobile Library in Espoo, Finland. In addition to the traditional lending stock the bus has a wide range of interactive media. In the mornings the Mobile library visits schools and kindergartens as a modern children´s library. In the afternoons and evenings Välkky can function as a Writer´s bus, a movie theatre, a multimedia workshop, a meeting place for a book club or a handicraft group for adult clients” (IFLA Conference 2014: http://www.ifla.org/files/assets/public-libraries/publications/day_1_10.45_-_eva_wilenius1.pdf)

And of course, me being me, I see robotics kits and learning tools for all ages to find out how to make as well as use technology.

I also daydream and wonder about partnering with local retailers to transport affordable fruit and vegetables to communities that don’t have access to them on their doorstep, delivering health information services for local PCTs, partnering with blood banks and adult education services, homes for the elderly and services for disabled people to provide economies of scale and a service that people will queue round the block to experience.

The business model for a mobile library is tricky, but it can’t be impossible, especially if it provides the rustle and hum of excitement of the travelling circus when it comes to town.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit the sparklingly refurbished Exeter Library‘s new Fab Lab. It is the first co-located public library/Fab Lab in the UK and it is awesome!

Funnily enough, for such a momentous combination of two learning and community movements, it felt pretty simple. Exeter Library had a spare room on the ground floor that the library service were planning to use as a second meeting room and the Council were planning a Fab Lab that they thought they might locate on an out-of-town science park. The two came together and something beautiful, totally right and completely obvious-once-you-see-it was born.

The Fab Lab is a space you could mistake for a computer and printer room if you didn’t know what it was. The door is open to the rest of the library and people can flow in and out seamlessly, allowing for that serendipitous discovery of new things that libraries have always been so good at.

(Image: Mike the Fab Lab manager in the Fab Lab)

It helps that the whole library feels fresh and airy and the kind of place you want to visit, now that it has been refurbished. In fact the whole place is buzzing with possibility.

This is what a library is and what a library can be. We are already getting there and that is so exciting.

(Image: newly refurbished Exeter Library)

There are limitations of course – you couldn’t do messy work or very noisy woodwork in here, but there is an impressive array of machinery – several 3D printers, a laser engraver, sewing machine, CNC Router etc etc etc… all controlled by computer. The software used to create the 2D and 3D files is currently all opensource (GIMP, Inkscape, Sketchup) – although Mike, the FabLab manager, has found some of it can be a bit glitchy and they might have to invest in some proprietary software (perhaps an opportunity here to work in partnership with Open Software makers to identify and fix problems?).

Another thing I love about the Fab Lab is the way it is managed and staffed. Exeter University is on the board and Exeter College (local HE institution) may well take on a key role in running the lab – which I believe are crucial partnerships for the success of any library based FabLab in building its economic development potential and providing seamless integration between serendipitous learning into more formal settings where that is appropriate.

There is one paid member of staff who has specialist product design skills and who manages a volunteer workforce paid in currency redeemable against Fab Lab machine use – essentially a time banking scheme. And you know how I feel about time banking in libraries.

One of the volunteers has experience in writing instructions and has developed a set of simple projects that people can complete in free 1 hr taster sessions being run every Saturday to introduce people to what the Fab Lab can offer. When you become a member of the Fab Lab (subscription £120 per year) you agree to write up your projects with instructions for other users, which will be stored in a Fab Lab wiki online, building a bank of local knowledge and expertise in product design and development.

It was one of the most inspiring mornings I have spent in a public library recently. It made me feel that being involved in public libraries was one of the best decisions I ever made, and it was pretty damn sexy.